


Declaration

by secondalto



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayerfy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-02
Updated: 2010-03-02
Packaged: 2017-10-07 15:58:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondalto/pseuds/secondalto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy tells Giles how she feels and gets a surprise in return.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Declaration

**Author's Note:**

> written for [](http://noelia-g.livejournal.com/profile)[**noelia_g**](http://noelia-g.livejournal.com/) in the "Every Watcher Needs a Slayer" ficathon. She requested a post Chosen late night conversation over tea with rain, hope this works. 

Buffy was standing at the living room window of Giles' house in Bath, watching raindrops spatter and form small rivulets on the glass before pooling on the sill.

"I though the whole it's always rainy thing was a Hollywood cliché," Buffy called out.

"Yes, well, we're just having an unusually wet spell it seems," Giles replied.

Buffy turned from the window, walking towards the kitchen. Giles was setting out the tea cups, the milk jug sitting on the counter. He smiled when he saw her, making her shiver a little inside.

"The usual?" he asked, filling the sugar bowl.

"Sure, and how entirely weird is it that I have a 'usual' way of drinking tea?"

Giles smiled. "I told you I would convert you to its charms."

"I'll just ignore that comment and grab the cookies."

"Biscuits."

"Whatever."

Buffy moved to the cupboard behind Giles, and grabbed the tin with a smug look for Giles. She took the tin into the living room again. She sat on the sofa by the window, watching the rain. They'd been in England for over a year now, Giles coming to set up the new Council, Buffy following for what reason she hadn't been sure of then. Their relationship had been strained at best.

_"Buffy...I—I understand your anger. Please believe me, we did what we…."_   
_"He's alive. Spike's alive. Wood failed."_   
_"Well, that doesn't change anything. What I told you is still true. You need to learn…"_   
_"No, I think you've taught me everything I need to know. "_

She'd resented his interference then, still did a little today, but she knew now that Giles had done it with the best of intentions. It had taken lots of work. There had been shouting, circular arguments that left both of them breathless with nothing resolved. There had been fighting, mostly during training, but some of it not, that left physical as well as emotional scars. There had been endless nights of talking, mostly on Buffy's part, with tea, thus leading to the ritual they continued tonight but they trusted one another again. Giles was her Watcher again, training with her, patrolling with her and they were better than they'd ever been before. So they deserved this break.

All throughout this year, Buffy had been thinking about her relationship with Giles. It was…more than friendship, more than simply being Watcher and Slayer. For Buffy it was deeper, stronger; soaked into her bones, flowing through her blood, woven into the very fabric of who she was. There were a few times Buffy had wanted to bring it up to Giles, but it had never seemed to be the right time. She wondered if that time might be now. But she was interrupted in her thoughts by the rattle of cups.

She looked up to watch Giles bring in the tea service. He had a way, a ritual almost, of setting everything out and Buffy never tired of watching it, watching him. The tray was set on the table, the teapot removed and set on a trivet. The creamer, sugar bowl, cups and spoons followed. Giles then set the tray underneath the table and began to pour the tea.

Buffy watched Giles' hands as he did this. The hand that held books with such reverence, hands that wielding weapons with immense skill, hands that guided her through moves during training, hands that made her tingly inside, hands that….

"Buffy?"

She looked up to see Giles holding out her cup. She took it with a smile as he sat in the chair across from her.

"Sorry, I was just, what was it you called it? Yarn bunching?"

"Woolgathering," he answered, sipping his tea. "Would you like to tell me about your thoughts?"

Buffy sipped her own, considering how to answer that.

"How do you feel about me, Giles?"

He gave her a questioning look with a slight tilt of his head before setting down his cup.

"I quite admire the woman you've become, Buffy. You've developed skills beyond those that I've taught you, which speak to your skill to adapt to any situation you are in. I still have yet to decipher your taste in clothes or everything you say, but overall, I consider you a dear friend."

"Oh," Buffy said, staring into her cup.

"Buffy, what's wrong?"

Giles moved to sit beside her, taking her hand in his. Buffy gazed up to his face, seeing concern in his eyes. She really liked his eyes. And everything else about him. She might as well tell him, even if he didn't feel the same.

"Giles…I…like you. More than a friend kind of like you. I think deep down, I've always felt something for you, but it's just in the last year that I realized what that something was. And since it's kinda obvious you don't feel the same way, I'll just leave in the morning and we'll forget I made a complete fool of myself."

She started to get up, but Giles stopped her. He looked uncomfortable and kinda squirmy, but cleared his throat and looked Buffy in the eye.

"Buffy, I, uh, there is something you should see."

He got up from the sofa, going to the shelf across the room. Buffy watched, confused as he took a book from the top shelf and brought it back to her, handing it over.

"I spill my heart out and you give me a book?"

"Buffy," Giles sighed. "It's the diary of Jonathan Hartford, he was a Watcher in 1846. It was thought to be destroyed."

"So how'd you get it and why should I care?"

"It came from…a reliable source back in the States. And you should care, Buffy, it has something you need to read."

Buffy turned the book over in her hands, cracking it open slowly.

"It wasn't so long ago that Watchers married their Slayers as a cover for an older man being with a much younger woman."

"I know that," Buffy said. "I've read some of the diaries. Parts of some anyway."

Giles glanced at her. "And when did that occur?"

"Okay, so maybe Willow read them and told me about them."

"Yes, well, what you don't know is that while that most were arranged and the couples lived tolerably, others were…."

"More than that?" Buffy supplied hopefully, putting the diary aside.

"Indeed, the Watcher fell in love with his Slayer, or she for him. They were true love matches. They were few and far between and not exactly encouraged by the Council but they did occur. Those couples were some of the strongest Watcher and Slayer teams in all of recorded history. Jonathan and his Slayer, Marie were one such team. He wrote it all down, much to the Council's dismay."

"Giles, are you trying to tell me…?"

"That I was not entirely truthful earlier. I love you, Buffy."

Buffy stared at him open-mouthed for a moment before leaning forward to place a soft kiss on Giles' lips. He was still for a moment before reciprocating, his hand moving to the back of her neck, bringing her closer. Buffy moved her hand to his arms, holding onto him as if she was going to float away. She could taste the tea he'd been drinking, feel his pulse racing under her fingers, smell the cologne he wore, her favorite.

She pulled back, breathing heavily. "Giles, why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I believe the words 'old' and 'gross' were used, if I remember correctly," Giles said sarcastically.

"Okay, so I was denial Buffy then but we've been working together for a year now, you could have been all Gilesy with the words somewhere in there."

Giles shook his head smiling. "I never thought you would have seen me as anything but your Watcher."

"But you are, you're my Giles," she pointed out, as if that was the answer to everything.

"And that is why I fell in love with you, Buffy."

She scooted closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his chest.

"I could get used to hearing those words you know."

"Then I shall delight in saying them to you whenever possible."

He placed a kiss on the top of her head and they held each other, listening to the rain fall outside.


End file.
